Fighting Diabetes in Emerging Markets

India, already crowned as the diabetic capital of the world, will be having 70 million people suffering from diabetes by the end of this year where most of them will be from rural areas.

Surveys suggest, 66% of villagers do not have access to the critical medicines and medical facilities. In addition to that, 31% travel more than 30 km to seek healthcare. Statistics clearly show poor accessibility of medical facilities in rural parts of the country. Well, we cannot do much about what is already there, but the question is, can we improve the future?

Medical technology companies are focusing more than ever on products that deliver cheaper, faster and more efficient patient care. They are investing in innovative concepts for medical devices concentrating on diabetes. Some of them have already been launched and are successful, like – automated systems which can respond to the entered data about taking medications, checking blood glucose, eating, exercise, and other actions, with tailored instructions and suggestions that can show up on a smartphone.

Apart from innovation, firms are digging out various ways to reach out to underprivileged segment of the society. Ideas like leasing Insulin Pumps, which typically costs around USD 6,500, almost impossible to afford for a person coming from rural background, are becoming popular. Moreover, these devices are now coming with a solution that maintain device selection and delivery and return, which not only makes it convenient for the patients, but also helps manufacturers to penetrate the market to a greater extent.

Experts suggest, IT services will have a huge impact in the diabetic market. There are various service solutions focusing on cloud-based technology which will help in improving customer’s overall experience with medical facilitators. According to a recent HIMSS Analytics’ survey, 83% of Healthcare organizations are using cloud-based applications today. The reasons why service companies are going ahead with such solutions include less cost than current IT maintenance, speed of deployment and solving the problem of not having enough internal staff and/or expertise. Based on a similar concept, technology companies have come up with solutions to help patients with gestational diabetes to collaborate with different medical practitioners, like a gynecologist, endocrinologist, physiotherapist, etc., under a single umbrella based on the requirement.

One of the major problems rural India is facing, even after the numerous measures taken by government to track diabetic patients, is that, only the records of those who are already suffering from diabetes are monitored. And the records of patients who are at high risk and with high probability of developing the disease soon, are discarded and not followed up on. Traditional paper-based medical data recording system does not help in detecting the probable patients, which are in huge numbers. To cater to such an issue, various service companies are working on cloud-based applications, with Big Data and Analytics providing a strong backend support.

Diabetes, being a common chronic disease, can be easily dealt with if people are aware and proper facilities are provided to them. Cheap and affordable solutions are readily welcomed as rural population is the major contributor. Therefore, these are the areas to focus for companies driven by innovation. There is no way to put a stop to diabetes but it can be easily controlled if companies can come up with real innovation in collaboration with technology.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHealthworld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.

Jyotirmay (JD) is the Vice President and Global Head of Medical Devices Vertical focused on delivering business value to customers in service offerings that includes R&D Show more.. services, IT services and BPO